The Day the Earth Boiled
by Binaryhead
Summary: It's summer in England and it's a heat wave. Nothing abnormal about that. Until the Doctor arrives and unearths a sinister plot that could destroy the world. Set between 'Voyage of the Damned' and 'Partners in crime'.
1. Goodbye and Thank You

**A/N There isn't much of the Doctor in the first chapter but it sets up the story. He is in the rest of the story so stick with it, you won't regret it.**

**(A/N 08:11:11 I fixed a few grammatical mistakes and added a few pieces of dialogue.)**

"_Goodbye and thank you."_

_ That was what he said the first time I met him. It wasn't the first time he'd met me though, in fact it was the last. You see, he has a bit of a complicated life. Sure, he tried to explain it to me with phrases like 'causality loops' and 'time isn't a straight line, it's more wibbly-wobbly'. He even tried to get me to understand how sometimes an effect can be seen before the cause, but to be honest I don't think _he_ even understood it fully. What chance did that leave me? And then when he tried to explain about his blue box…_

_ Anyway, this is a story of adventure, cunning and bravery (mainly from him). It's a story of one man's struggle against the odds, fighting for what he believes in. It's a story of good and evil. It's the story of how I met the Doctor!_

It was a normal summer's day on the Isle of Wight. Well I say normal, there were no clouds and it was 30oc. That's not exactly normal for England, but there wasn't anything to suggest something strange was about to happen. Except for the heat wave. That should have given me a clue. The weatherman had said that it should have been cold and rainy for the whole week but instead it had been hot with blue skies. However, true to British nature I forgot all about that and headed towards the seaside. I had a relative who lived on the Isle of Wight so I thought I would pay her a visit and then spend a few days on the beach. It seemed like such a simple plan, but it didn't end up as relaxing as I would have liked.

I went down to Sandown on the first day to see my relative and booked into a hotel in the afternoon. Early the next morning I thought I would head down to the beach before it became crowded. As I walked along the street glancing in the shop windows I saw something which made me turn my head. It was a man wearing a blue suit and a light brown overcoat. I thought this was odd enough considering the weather but as he came closer I could see that he was completely soaked, as if he had been standing in rain for some time. And the weirdest thing was that he was heading towards me.

"Goodbye and thank you," he said briefly stopping in front of me before he continued around the corner. I was a little stunned and didn't think to follow him until I felt a cooling breeze on the back of my neck which was accompanied by a strange noise which was unlike anything I had ever heard before, but impossible to forget. By the time I had turned the corner, the man was nowhere to be seen. Against my better judgement I spent the next quarter of an hour trying to find him to no avail.

'Probably just some nutter who's escaped,' I thought to myself as I headed towards the beach. By the time I'd got there, the place was full of families and couples enjoying the unexpected sunshine. Children were running around throwing sand, men and women who'd managed to get a few days off of work were laying peaceful or reading books. The only space left was up against the wall in the shade.

"At least I won't get cancer," I muttered to myself as I put my towel down.

"You know this heat wave we've been having?" I heard the guy next to me say.

"What about it?" his friend replied.

"Well, isn't it odd that there's been all this sun evaporating up water and not a single cloud has formed? I saw it on the weather, barely a cloud over the whole of England."

"Have you ever thought that the clouds are just forming over Europe? Who knows, it could be raining in France."

"Yer, but…" I got up and decided to head towards the shops, I couldn't take any more of their conversation. And I could have sworn I saw a shop selling proper ice creams for 99p whilst I was looking for that man. It had been ages since I last paid 99p for a 99 flake, and if I couldn't sit in the sun on the beach I might at least catch a few rays whilst I was walking.

As I approached where I thought the shop was I happened to pass a nice looking gift shop. I hadn't bought anything for my parents so I decided to have a quick look. Unfortunately, I wasn't the first to have a quick look and a lot of the shelves were empty. I did however see an odd looking pendant. It was a silver sphere with a pattern around the edge. I thought it looked interesting so I picked it up to get a better look, and quickly put it down again when I felt how hot it was.

'This really isn't my day,' I thought as I picked it up by the string and took it over to the counter. It was just as I was picking up my change when I heard that sound again. Instantly recognising it I rushed out of the shop and headed in the direction that I thought it had came from. I ran like a mad man through the busy streets until I reached the empty back streets, and there it was. Hidden in an alley behind some bins was a blue box. It was a little bit taller than me and not too wide. A person could stand inside it but it wouldn't leave too much room to move. On the top it said 'Police Public Call Box', and after walking around it I saw that it did have a phone on one side. I picked it up but it didn't work. Still a little confused I decided to resume my hunt for the cheap ice cream when I caught a glimpse of the man in the blue suit. I tried to follow him but again he had disappeared.

I turned around and froze to the spot, despite the heat. An eight foot creature with yellow, cracked scaly skin stood in front of me. It started to open its mouth revealing more sets of teeth than a shark when it suddenly stopped and stared over my shoulder.

"I must warn you, I have a sonic screwdriver and I'm not afraid to use it," the man I'd been following said as he walked passed me holding a little metal device with a blue glow at one end in a threatening manner. The creature looked like it tried to smile and just disappeared.

"I hate it when they do that. I can't even trace the signal, my screwdriver's not working properly. Somebody must be drying their hair, I should really do something about that. I mean who would use a hair dryer on a day like this?" he said as he turned back towards me.

"Right, I forgot you were there," he stated, "I don't suppose there's any chance you missed all of that?"

"What, the giant yellow creature or it disappearing?"

"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this. Oh and by the way, I'm the Doctor."

**A/N This is my first story so please review to help me improve (constructive criticism is welcome). I will update soon.**


	2. A Dark Secret

_The Doctor! Always the Doctor. Doctor Who? He never gave a name other than that. I suppose I should have realised that earlier but I had my excuses. It's not every day I run into aliens that just disappear into thin air. And that wasn't the weirdest thing that I saw that day._

There he was. The man in the trainers and blue suit during a heat wave. The man with the surprisingly good hair. The man I had been chasing all morning.

"So, I'm guessing that was an alien," I finally managed to say.

"Yes."

"And the disappearing?"

"Basically, that was a simple short range teleportation device. He must have a ship around here somewhere," the Doctor explained.

"Alright, I can accept that. But what I really want to know is why did you say goodbye to me this morning?"

"What? I've never seen you before. And anyway, an alien teleports right in front of you and you're more worried about what happened this morning?"

"Well, I've kind of suspected that there are aliens. Just look at the spaceships and giant snowflakes over London. And the fact that London was deserted at Christmas because everyone was too scared to stay. And the thing with all the bees disappearing as well. They can't all be hoaxes."

"Right, so you say I met you this morning?" the Doctor asked looking a little puzzled.

"Not too far from here. You walked up to me, said goodbye, walked round the corner and just vanished."

"I wonder why I did that."

"You don't know?"

"Well, I have a bit of a complicated life. Events don't necessarily happen in the correct order. But anyway, we have a much bigger mystery than that to solve. We need to find out what that Cleptraal was doing here, and I think you'd better come with me. That is of course unless you don't want to."

He started heading towards his blue box. It took me a few seconds to realise what had just happened so by the time I had reached the blue box he had already gone inside. I hesitated before opening the door realising that there wouldn't be much room for both of us in there. I was soon proven wrong. As I opened the door and stepped inside I saw that it was big enough to fit an army complete with horses. I had just walked into a vast, domed chamber that almost looked like it was alive. In the middle of the chamber was what I assumed to be the main control panel, surrounding a central column.

"But… the outside… is smaller," I said bewildered.

"You know what they say. Good things come in small packages."

"Good, not big. What is it?"

"It's called the Tardis. It's my ship. Close the door please, I don't want anybody wandering in."

As I closed the door and sat down the Doctor started playing with some of the controls. He hit a few buttons, spun something and hit some more buttons. All the time he was looking at a screen.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to trace the residual energy pattern left by the transporter. If I can just get a strong enough reading I should be able to find where he's hidden his ship. The problem is there seems to be something disrupting the signal so I can't get a proper reading."

"Is it another hair dryer?"

"No, it's something a bit more sophisticated than that. The interference seems to be coming from space. It looks like it could be a satellite. Hang on, I'm receiving something from the satellite." As he said this the Simpsons appeared on the screen.

"Are you trying to tell me that Sky is run by aliens?"

"A lot of companies are, but this satellite has been hijacked. There's another signal hidden behind it. That's what has been blocking my readings. It would probably cause a few problems with reception on TVs and mobile phones."

"Why would aliens want to disrupt the occasional conversation? Unless they were really bored."

"That's just a side effect. The main purpose is to disguise alien technology."

The Doctor continued to flick various switches, push buttons and even hit parts with a hammer. I just sat down watching him do this, trying to understand what was happening. Then I remembered something he had said.

"What did you mean by things not happening in the right order?" I asked him.

"When you travel through time things are bound to get a little complicated," he replied whilst pumping what appeared to be a bicycle pump.

"Of course. Time travel. Any other laws of Physics that I should know you can break?"

"Well, I wouldn't say break. It's more like bending. Anyway, how do you know your laws are correct?"

"I'm sure a scientist somewhere has proof," I muttered as the Doctor returned to the screen. A few minutes later the Simpsons disappeared off of the screen and were replaced by a series of wavy lines running across the screen. Beneath these were odd circular shapes which I assumed must mean something because the Doctor appeared to be reading them.

"Whoever did this must have been clever. He's managed to convert that satellite into a damping field generator and focused it on four separate points. One down here to scramble the transporter trace, one orbiting Earth which I would assume would be to hide his ship, and one aimed directly at each pole."

"What are the last two hiding?"

"I don't know but if I were to simply reverse the polarity of the photon flow it should weaken the signal enough to get a reading," the Doctor explained whilst lifting up a panel in the floor. He started moving wires around and using his sonic screwdriver on odd shaped objects. When he put the panel back and hit a few more buttons, a picture of the Earth appeared on the screen. It also showed the position of the satellite and where the damping fields were aimed at.

"Oh that is beautiful. Potentially fatal but still beautiful."

"What is it?"

"The satellite isn't just creating the damping field. It's also aiming a low intensity infrared beam at the poles. Nothing strong enough to be easily detected but if it were to be left long enough, say twenty five years, it would slowly melt the ice caps."

"So earlier when I said that it was another hair dryer blocking the signal I was right," I said proudly.

"Not exactly but close enough. But why would a Cleptraal want to melt the ice caps? They hate water."

"At the minute I don't care too much about that. I just want to know, can you stop it?"

**A/N As always all reviews are welcome. I hope you are enjoying reading my story and look out for the next chapter (updating soon).**


	3. Who Are You?

_**A/N I just want to say a quick thank you to Harlequin Shadow and Nimbusbolt for the reviews, those really helped me.**_

_A satellite that was melting the ice caps, and he was more interested in finding an alien that could be anywhere by now. That's when I started to suspect that there was a lot more to the Doctor than he wanted to reveal._

"Well, can you stop it?" I asked.

"Right now that's not the most important thing. An eight foot yellow alien is running around out there somewhere. I don't know what it's doing here and I'd rather not find out. Stopping him as soon as possible is my first priority. And anyway, I've got about twenty five years to stop the satellite. Even if I couldn't travel in time I think I would be able to get around to it before it does any real damage."

"What if I were to tell you that sky had its twenty fifth anniversary last year. And scientists are reporting that the ice caps are already melting. They blame global warming and greenhouse gases but what if it's being caused by the satellite? And that Clep-thing has probably gone back to its ship." I said starting to become annoyed with the Doctor.

"The Cleptraal is still on Earth. It's impossible to transport back to a ship in orbit with a damping field covering it. He used a short range transporter which means he's still within a mile. But if you say that satellite has been up there for that length of time then we may have a much bigger problem on our hands. Not only would it mean that it has started to melt the ice caps, but it also means that this whole thing has been planned for a long time, and not by just one person," the Doctor said almost too quickly for me to hear.

"Did you even breathe then?"

"Not much no. Anyway, it looks like we've got a satellite to stop. I just need to pick up a few things," the Doctor said as he ran out of the Tardis.

Against my better judgement I decided to follow him. At least the streets weren't bigger than they should be. After a few minutes running the Doctor stopped outside a DIY shop, looked in the window and entered. By the time I caught up with him he was already at the counter with a coil of wire around his shoulder showing the woman behind the till a piece of paper.

"I'm going to have to take this but if you call my office they will repay you," the Doctor said to a bemused woman.

"What's on the paper?" I asked him as we started running back towards the Tardis.

The Doctor looked at the paper and then said, "Apparently and ID card for MI5, military intelligence department."

"So you work for MI5 then?"

"No, but she obviously thinks I must do. It's actually psychic paper. It showed her what she needed to see to let me take this without paying."

"So you've got psychic paper, a sonic screwdriver and a Police box that's bigger on the inside. Who are you, and why are we running?" I said a little out of breath.

"The running's the fun part. I enjoy a good run every so often. Although most days I don't really have a choice."

"You didn't answer my other question," I said as we reached the Tardis, "Who are you?"

"I'm just a traveller passing by."

"Well, are you even human? All these things this technology, are you from the future? Or are you an alien as well?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does. If I'm supposed to believe that you are trying to save the Earth when you could just be helping this Cleptron I need to know."

"Cleptraal."

"I don't care! What are you? Who are you?"

"I'm the only person who can save the Earth. If you can't believe that then you should just leave now and forget all about me. If you want to help save the Earth then I suggest you put on some warmer clothes."

"Why?"

"Because we are going to Antarctica."

**A/N Again, all reviews welcome. They help me to become a better writer and my stories to improve. Next Chapter coming soon.**


	4. The Least of Your Problems

_**A/N Just a quick note to say that I changed the title of my story because I never really liked the original. If this is the first time you've read my story and you want to know what the original title was then just submit a review and I'll tell you.**_

_Antarctica! First he didn't want to go anywhere or do anything unless the alien got away, and then he wanted to go all of the way to Antarctica. It was impossible trying to get any sense out of him. But at least he made slightly more sense than everything else that was happening._

"How are we supposed to get to Antarctica?"

"You don't think the Tardis just picks up television do you? It is more than just a shed that's bigger on the inside."

"Right. Warmer clothes? It's a heat wave in the middle of summer, what warm clothes do you think I have?"

"I have some in the wardrobe. Head down that corridor and then it's the first on the left, second on the right, third on the left, straight ahead and then under the stairs, past the bins and it's the fifth door on your left."

"So it's down that corridor, third on the left and fourth on the right?" I said utterly confused.

"Not exactly. First on the left, second on the... oh you can work it out. Just don't take too long. I'll start calibrating the Tardis but I'll need your help to maintain the signal coherence on the ionised transmitter."

"The what?" I said still confused.

"Just go and get changed, I'll explain when we get there," the Doctor said as he started to pull up more panels off of the floor.

As I walked along the seemingly endless corridors trying to find the wardrobe I found bedrooms, a vast library, what looked like a medical bay, a greenhouse and even an art gallery. Every door hid something more strange and out of place than the next. And then I eventually found the wardrobe. It was at least three floors tall and had every item of clothing I could think of, even a few that I couldn't. As I walked along one row I even saw dresses from various periods of time next to a coat with a piece of celery stuck on it. After a few more minutes of searching through suits, skirts and wetsuits I found what I was looking for. As I was getting changed I thought I heard that strange noise again and then felt a sudden jolt which almost knocked me over. I put on a thick, hooded coat and hurried back to the Doctor whilst getting lost a few more times.

"You were a bit a quick. I haven't finished calibrating yet. It'll only take a minute."

I sat down and unzipped the coat. After watching the Doctor running around hitting controls for a few minutes, I built up the courage to ask a question which I had wanted to ask since I walked into the wardrobe.

"Are the dresses yours?"

"What dresses?"

"In the wardrobe there were rows of dresses. Are they yours?"

"Technically yes. But I only have them in case I'm travelling with a woman. You didn't think I wore them, did you?"

"With you I don't know what to think." Another minute passed in silence, apart from the occasional noise from his screwdriver.

"So do you travel with women a lot?"

"Sometimes I do but I've been on my own recently."

"So is it just women you travel with?"

"What? No. I travel with men, women, aliens. Even a horse once."

"I suppose that makes about as much sense as anything else does."

The Doctor picked up the wire that he had stolen and started attaching it to the central column.

"Why did you pick me? You could have just walked away and left me but you took me along with you and told me all these things about aliens melting the ice caps."

"Well, you said that I'd already met you and I would have done that for a reason. And the Cleptraal was following you so I thought I might find out why," he explained whilst hitting a few final buttons, "Right, now that I've finished shall we have a look around outside?"

"But I thought we were going to Antarctica."

"We're already there."

"Was landing what caused the jolt?"

"We didn't actually land we just sort of appeared but that was what caused it. Anyway that's enough talking, we've got a job to do. I just need to pick up one more thing," the Doctor said as knelt down to search in one of the holes in the floor. When he stood up he was holding a satellite dish.

"Right, off we go then," he exclaimed as he headed towards the door with the satellite dish in one hand and the coil of wire around his opposite arm.

"Aren't you going to change your clothes, you'll freeze," I said as I noticed he was still in his suit.

"I have done. I've taken my tie off."

"Why did you do that?"

"It can get quite windy out there and I don't want it flapping around all over the place. Last time I was here it even blew off and a guy had to run after it for me. Oates I think his name was."

"What, as in Lawrence Oates? As in 'I am just going outside and I may be some time' Oates?"

"Yes that was the guy. It didn't actually take him that long to find my tie, but I suppose it sounds better than 'I am just going outside for a minute or two, put the kettle on and I'll be back in time for tea'."

"Didn't he go out there to sacrifice himself?"

"No. He knew how much I liked that tie so he volunteered to fetch it for me. Of course he got a little lost in the blizzard and I eventually found him with my tie in a food depot. I don't know what happened to them after that. But never mind that, we've got a satellite to stop," the Doctor said.

As he opened the doors a gust of icy wind blew through the Tardis. I immediately hid inside my hood and followed him. As he was walking the Doctor unraveled the wire until there was no more. He then set the satellite dish on the ground and, using his screwdriver, somehow attached it to the wire.

"What do you need me to do?" I shouted struggling to be heard over the wind.

"Just watch this light and when it turns green point the screwdriver at the middle of it and press this button," he said whilst handing me his sonic screwdriver. As I was taking a glove off so that I could press the button, the Doctor ran back to the Tardis. I could just see him working at the controls through the falling snow. When the light suddenly turned green I pressed the button and sparks flew from the dish. The Doctor walked up to me looking in the sky. I followed his gaze and then saw a tiny flash in the sky.

"We can go back inside now," he shouted, "And don't forget the satellite dish."

I quickly picked it up and ran towards the Tardis. When I was inside the Doctor shut the door and the temperature rose instantaneously.

"What was that flash," I asked removing my coat.

"That was the satellite. I converted the satellite dish from a receiver to a transmitter and reflected the infra red beam back towards it. I then used the Tardis to boost the strength of it and that resulted in the satellite exploding. Well, not the whole satellite just the parts that had been modified. People around the world can still watch the Simpsons."

"So does that mean the damping field has gone?"

"Correctamundo and I can't believe I actually said that again. Right, this time for sure I'll never say that again. Unless of course something ridiculous happens like it becomes a really popular word in the sixties."

"What are you on about, the sixties have been and gone?"

"Hmmm? Oh you're probably thinking of the _nineteen_ sixties, I'm on about the _twenty one _sixties. A lot of crazy stuff happens in that decade. Although thinking about it, in the twenty four sixties it becomes popular to wear vegetables! What is it with your planet and the sixties?"

"Vegetables?"

"Hey, never underestimate a piece of decorative celery. Anyway where was I? Ah yes, now we can see who's been hiding up there," he said whilst adjusting the screen.

He hit a few more buttons and an image of a spaceship appeared on the screen.

"Oh that's bad, that is very bad. That ship up there doesn't belong to the Cleptraal. It's a Cheltakka D-Class Warship," he said with almost a trace of fear in his voice, "The kind they use to invade planets!"

**A/N Sorry about the long update time, I've had a ridiculously busy week. I'll try to write the next chapter a bit quicker, but a few reviews might just help.**


	5. Water Water Everywhere

_**A/N Thanks to hpets for the review and I hope you all enjoy the next chapter.**_

_And that day had started off so well. Little did I know that instead of a few relaxing hours on the beach I would end up uncovering a plot to destroy the world. How could meeting a stranger in the street lead to me destroying satellites in Antarctica? At that point I just wanted to go back to my hotel room and curl up in bed, but the Doctor had other ideas…_

"So there are two aliens now?" I said whilst still trying to get my head around what I was hearing.

"Much more than two. A D-Class Warship is vast, almost as big as a city. It holds thousands of Cheltakka soldiers. Hundreds of thousands."

Stunned, I had to sit down. After a few deep breathes I asked, "Who are these Cheltakka things and what do they want with us?"

"They're a scavenger race. Their home planet is a baron wasteland. There's hardly any vegetation and even less water. How any form of life managed to evolve there is a mystery, but somehow the Cheltakka managed to survive. Now they spend most of their time invading other planets and stealing natural resources because they have so few of their own."

"Like copper, gold and oil?"

"Oh no, those things are only valuable on this planet. Anywhere else in the universe those things are useless. It's just humans that think gold looks nice."

"Well what do they want then?"

"Their ships use a micro compression unit to provide energy. This basically creates a tiny, controlled nuclear fusion reaction, kind of like what happens at the heart of a star. The engine itself needs a gravity compensator to make it light enough for the ship to carry. Because all of their power for their entire empire comes from fusion reactions they need Hydrogen as a fuel, and lots of it."

"But I don't remember there being great stores of Hydrogen on Earth, sure there's some but…" I began to say as I suddenly remembered something a science teacher had once told me, "Except of course the 70% of the world's surface which is made up of water. H2O!"

"Exactly. The oldest buy one get one free. Just slightly alter the micro compression unit to break down the water and release the oxygen and you get energy and something to breathe. And that's why they were melting the ice caps, so there was more water for them to collect. All they needed was a simple vortex manipulator to steal the satellite twenty five years ago and return the modified version so that it would have started melting the ice caps by the time they arrived. A simple but brilliant idea. Of course it leads to entire planets being destroyed, which poses the question why hasn't Earth been destroyed yet? It's almost as if they're waiting for something, or someone."

"Don't complain. I quite like the Earth. I'd be happy if they didn't destroy it. Isn't there something else they could use instead of Hydrogen, something we could give them which we don't need to live?" I asked desperately trying to think of ways to save the Earth's water supply.

"Stable fusion reactions need light molecules. Anything bigger than Helium will disrupt the reaction. When stars start fusing bigger molecules they eventually create an iron core, and when the core becomes too big they go supernova. Because the reaction they use is billions of times smaller than a star, even the smallest amount of any heavier molecule is likely to result in a catastrophic chain reaction that will eventually become too powerful to be contained."

"Is there any chance you could dumb some of your speeches down for me?" I asked desperately.

"O.K. If they use any other fuel they will explode. Simple enough for you?" the Doctor explained sounding just a little annoyed.

I decided to sit in a corner quietly and let the Doctor think of his next move. As I tried to find a corner in the spherical chamber (which I wouldn't normally do but I was now thinking that anything could be possible) something I had heard earlier hit me.

"The clouds!" I almost shouted.

"Pardon."

"This guy on the beach said that the clouds were disappearing. Maybe the Cheltakkas are sucking up the water through the clouds. That would explain why we had a heat wave instead of rain."

"It's possible, but if they wanted water from the Earth they would just take all of it and not siphon it off slowly. Something must be wrong, and I guess there's only one way to find out," the Doctor said as he repositioned the screen and flicked a few switches.

"How?"

"Simple. We ask them." The Doctor pressed a final button and a picture of what I assumed was the inside of the Cheltakka ship appeared. It was very dark and I could just make out the outline of two bird shaped creatures, but instead of having feathers they seemed to have a leathery skin. Their eyes shone brightly.

"What is the meaning of this?" one of them screeched.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Are you the one that destroyed our satellite?" the other replied.

"Yer, sorry about that. I was just wondering what you were doing here."

"We have done nothing wrong," the first one, who was obviously the leader, stated.

"Well apart from hijacking that satellite."

"We are chasing a criminal and needed it to hide us from him."

"You're chasing a criminal in a D-Class Warship! Isn't that a bit of overkill?"

"He is a very," the leader paused to try to think of the right word, "Slippery criminal."

"I don't suppose you mean a Cleptraal do you?" the Doctor guessed.

"We cannot say, and I think you have asked enough questions." The screen went blank.

"Well that was useful," I said sarcastically, "Does that mean though that they are just using the Earth as a pit stop, sucking up just enough water to get them home?"

"No, they are going to steal all that they can. However, it looks like they need to capture this criminal before they do it which means he's the key to this whole mystery. There are intergalactic police that could hunt him down but for some reason it looks like they have to find him themselves."

"What do we do next then?"

"We need to find out what crime he's committed and to do that we need to go to the Shadow Proclamation."

**A/N Hopefully I will be updating sooner than I have been recently so keep an eye out.**


	6. The Shadow Proclamation

_As soon as I heard those words I knew I didn't want to know what was going to happen next. I also knew that because of some cruel twist of fate I had to see this thing through. The Doctor had chosen me for a reason so I had to stick by his side for as long as it took. All I could wish for was that we would get the answers we needed._

"Do I even want to know what that is?" I asked without much hope left in my voice.

"The Shadow Proclamation is the name of a treaty signed by races across the universe, but it is also an organisation that enforces all of the laws within the treaty. Kind of like an intergalactic Police force. Their headquarters are on an asteroid where they keep extensive records of any and all laws that are broken. And that is where we should be able to find what the Cleptraal did."

"Should?"

"Well it's not like I could just walk up to a receptionist and ask for all the files they have on Cleptraals fitting a certain description. Most of the information there is classified."

"So you want to break into the Headquarters of the intergalactic Police, snoop around and steal some information?"

"I wouldn't say steal. More like take a peek at it."

"Fine you 'take at peek' at all the information you want, but you can leave me here. I'll make sure the glaciers don't go anywhere. Or better still you could just take me back to where you found me," I suggested hopefully.

"No. I don't know why or when but I will need you. I can't take the risk that the Cleptraal will find you. You need to stay with me and I need to go to the Shadow Proclamation."

"Are you sure that's the only way to save the Earth."

"Yes"

"Then I guess I have no choice. What good is there in wanting to return home if it might not be there to return to?"

"Molto Bene," the Doctor exclaimed enthusiastically, "and anyway, most people would love to take a trip in the Tardis."

"I've already had one and that was enough for me," I complained to myself.

"Come on then. Allons-y. I actually met a guy called Alonso once, and I got to say Allons-y Alonso."

As the Doctor continued to babble he moved over to the controls and a few seconds later the central column started moving up and down. I listened to the noise the Tardis made and knew that we had left Earth. The Doctor was now frantically running around hitting various controls with a hammer.

"The landings going to be a little tricky. We can't be noticed by anyone so I'm landing in the room that holds the mainframe. It's going to be a tight squeeze," he explained, "I need you to hold this button down and when I tell you flick that switch."

I did what the Doctor told me to do and soon enough the Tardis landed, throwing us both onto the floor. The Doctor stood up straight away and ran out of the door. I followed him into a room that was just big enough for the Tardis to fit into. The Doctor was standing by a door that was slightly ajar.

"I need you to watch this corridor and make sure no one comes in here," the Doctor said as he turned to a monitor on the back wall with his screwdriver ready in his hand.

"What do I say if someone sees me?" I asked.

"I don't know, make something up. Say you're a janitor and you're just cleaning the floor or something. I can't think of everything for you." I walked over to the door and looked out into the corridor. It was completely empty.

"This is going to be fun," I mumbled. As the Doctor busily worked trying to find the information we needed I continued to watch the corridor. Eventually a woman with pale skin and red eyes walked by. As she approached the door I started to slowly close it but someone behind her caught my eye. He was wearing bulky black armour and a large helmet. As the two were talking he removed the helmet revealing the head of a rhinoceros.

"Are you almost done?" I whispered, "This place is getting a little too weird for me."

"Hang on. Just need to bypass one last, got it." The Doctor put his screwdriver back in his pocket and exchanged it for a pair of glasses. He started to read what was on the monitor.

"What?" he said a little too loudly, "But that doesn't make any sense."

"Erm, if you've found what we need I suggest we leave. Right now," I said as the rhinoceros turned around and looked directly at the door, "I think they heard you. A big rhino is heading this way!" We hurried back into the Tardis and the Doctor quickly got it moving.

"Did you find what we need?" I asked.

"Not exactly."

"You mean to say we almost got caught for nothing?"

"I didn't say that. I just couldn't find as much as I would have liked to."

"Well what did you find?"

"I managed to find a report that was submitted by the Cheltakkas. Crimes like this are normally dealt with by the Judoon, that was that big rhino by the way. However, the Cheltakkas made a request to be allowed to find the Cleptraal themselves because they wanted some privacy. Apparently the Cleptraal stole something from them and they don't want anyone else to find it."

"What did he steal?"

"They didn't say, but that's the bit that doesn't make sense. There isn't anything worth stealing on a Cheltakka ship. They don't even have any light bulbs. The only thing they do have is..."

"What?"

"Of course, it all makes sense now. Why didn't I see it before? I must be getting old. He stole the engine. That's why they haven't attacked yet, they only have reserve power. They can't attack until they get their engine back."

"So what do we do now?"

"Simple all we have to do is find the engine before either the Cheltakkas or the Cleptraal does, and then we come up with a way to stop the Cheltakkas from destroying Earth."

"Oh. Is that all?"

**A/N I am now starting to run out of ideas so the next chapter could well be the last.**


	7. Stolen Goods

_So the time had finally come. All we had to do now was defeat an army and find an item, which could potentially destroy the world, before the thief that stole it. I bet most people don't get entertainment like that when they go on holiday. I wasn't looking forward to it at all but I knew it had to be done. At least it would all be over soon, I hoped..._

"Hang on. If the Cleptraal stole the engine, why is he looking for it? Shouldn't he know where it is?" I asked puzzled.

"If he had the engine he would have left by now. My guess is he came here to sell it but whilst he was waiting someone moved it."

"Alright. I guess the next question is how exactly do you steal an engine? You can't just climb in through the window and sneak out with it hidden up your jumper."

"It's actually a lot easier than that. He probably just got close to the Cheltakkas' ship and used his teleporter."

"But don't they have shields or something to stop things like that?"

"You've been watching too much TV," the Doctor said, "The real world isn't like that. Space travel is not as glamorous as you like to think it will be."

"So what do we do now then?"

"Head back to Earth and find the engine."

"What the engine that a whole army and a professional thief have been trying to find without any success?"

"Yep. That's the one."

"Whereas just the two of us stand a much better chance of finding it."

"That's right," the Doctor said distractedly whilst working at the controls. I got the feeling that the Doctor had almost forgotten me again so I just waited patiently for the Tardis to land. By now I had gotten used to the Doctor forgetting about me so I headed towards my usual seat and started to plan what I would do with the rest of my holiday, after all this business with the aliens was done and forgotten. I had planned two days and was just contemplating a visit to the zoo when I felt the familiar jolt and realised I was back in England. The Doctor headed out of the door.

"Here we are then. Back were we started. Smell that sea air. We're even in the exact same spot. A nice bit of parking if I do say so myself," the Doctor beamed, obviously proud of his achievement.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" I said as I followed him.

"It's not easy travelling across half the galaxy you know. It's like you throwing a ball at a flea that's on the moon," the Doctor said a little annoyed.

"Point taken. So I guess we should head out there and find this engine," I said eager to finish this as soon as possible, "It can't be too hard to find an engine. I wouldn't think there would be many places big enough to hide it in."

"How big do you think it is then?" the Doctor asked me. Puzzled I searched for a reply.

"Well you said that it needed a gravity equalizer or something to make it light enough for the ship to carry it so I'm guessing it's pretty big."

"Something doesn't have to be big to weigh a lot. Most of its weight comes from the fusion reaction in its core. The matter in there is incredibly dense. The engine itself is actually quite small."

"How small?"

"I don't know. A little bigger than a five pence piece. Any bigger and the reaction inside will be too powerful to handle. Instead of providing energy to run the ship it would just destroy it. It could even start to form into a bigger star."

"Oh. That makes things a little bit trickier. How exactly are we supposed to find it then if it's that small?" I asked exasperated.

"That's the problem. Why do you think it's taken the others so long to search for it? To be honest I don't really know where to start," the Doctor admitted.

"I don't suppose we could go to the Police lost and found." The Doctor gave me a look which made me feel stupid for even mentioning the idea.

"I didn't think we could either. I just thought I'd mention it though," I mumbled.

"Do you have a phone?"

"What?" I said confused, "Yes, why?"

"Can I borrow it? I want to go onto the internet and see if there have been any strange occurrences. Maybe that could give us a clue."

"Of course," I said. I reached into my pocket to get it for him but stopped as I felt something warm. Withdrawing my hand I saw that I still had the pendant that I had bought earlier. As my eyes traced the pattern around its edge I realised something.

"How big did you say the engine was?"

"About the size of a five pence piece maybe a little bigger, why?" I looked at him as I held up the pendant which was a little bigger than a five pence. It took the Doctor a few seconds to realise what I was showing him. When he did, his eyes widened.

"Where did you get that?" the Doctor asked excitedly.

"I bought it in a shop this morning. Just before I met you actually."

"And just before the Cleptraal started following you. That must be why I needed you to help me. There I was running around all over the place and you had the answer all along hidden in your pocket," the Doctor said with a wide grin on his face.

"So what's the plan now? If we have their engine the Cheltakkas can't destroy Earth and the Cleptraal has nothing left to gain from being here. Does that mean it's all over?"

"Not yet, there's just one more thing that we have to do before everyone will finally leave Earth."

"What's that then?"

"Give the Cheltakkas their engine back."

**A/N I got a little carried away whilst writing so this won't be the last chapter, as you might have guessed. It got a bit long so I decided to split it into two. The next chapter will definatley be the last one though so you are running out of time to review. The next chapter should be updated fairly soon.**


	8. The Good, The Bad and The Banana

_**A/N This is it. The long awaited final chapter to my story, and this time I mean final. I have absolutely no more ideas so this has to be the end. I hope you enjoy it.**_

_Give the Cheltakkas their engine back! Had all this space flight made him mad? The one thing they needed to destroy Earth with, and he wanted to give it back to them. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I started to wonder if now we had found the engine whether it would be the end of my journey with the Doctor, or just the beginning of the end of humanity._

"Please tell me you're joking. You can't be serious. This is just madness," I shouted at him but he just looked plainly back at me, "They want to kill us all and you're just going to roll over and let them. Before I wondered if you were an alien and now I know. You definitely can't be human."

"Calm down," the Doctor said quietly, "I have saved this planet a thousand times; I'm not going to let it get destroyed now."

"Then why do you have to give them their engine back?"

"If I don't they won't be able to leave. Without it they won't even have enough energy to break orbit. And if the Cheltakkas have it the Cleptraal will follow them trying to steal it again. It's the only way to get them all to leave."

"But what's going to stop them from just turning around and destroying Earth?" The Doctor looked at me with unwavering eyes.

"I am," he simply said.

"And how exactly are you going to be able to do that?"

"I can't say right now, I just need you to trust me."

I don't know if it was because of the things I had seen him do, or if it was because of something in the way that he looked at me with eyes that somehow seemed older than him; but I heard myself say, "OK, I trust you."

"Brilliant, that's all I need," the Doctor said cheerily, "Now all we have to do is set up a meeting. Come on." The Doctor motioned towards the Tardis and entered. More curious than scared I followed. I saw that he was already at the controls and wondered how he remembered what they all did.

"I'm going to talk to the Cheltakkas and ask them to come down here to collect the engine, but I'll need to show it to them as proof," the Doctor said holding his hand out towards me. As I gave it to him I realised that it was still warm.

"Why is it so warm? Earlier I thought that was just because it had been in the sun but it can't be."

"The engine never stops. It takes too much energy to restart a fusion reaction, but once it's started it can sustain itself. It's still burning away as we speak, producing energy."

"So does that mean we could just turn it off and the Cheltakkas will use all their energy trying to restart their engine instead of destroying Earth?" I asked hopefully.

"They'd just siphon off all the energy they needed from Earth," the Doctor replied, "But don't worry, I know what I'm doing." As he said this the screen flickered into life and I could see inside the Cheltakka ship again.

"I thought we told you not to ask any more questions."

"Oh I'm not asking anything, I'm returning something instead. I believe this belongs to you," the Doctor said as he held up the engine.

"You may speak."

"Thank you. I thought you might let me. Met me on Earth in ten minutes, and come unarmed."

"How will we know where you are?"

"I'm sending you the co-ordinates now." The screen went blank again.

"Right, I better get working then," the Doctor said as he pulled out his glasses and put them on. He inspected the engine, "I need you to stand outside and tell me if anyone comes."

"But you said ten minutes."

"I know but I don't trust them. And it's not just them that I'm worried about."

I did what the Doctor said and stepped outside. Luckily there were a few boxes littered around so I moved one close to the Tardis and sat down in the sun. I was determined to catch a few rays. As I sat there relaxing I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye on a rooftop. When I looked at it though there was nothing there.

"Where is the Doctor?" a voice screeched from the shadows at the end of the alley.

"I'll just get him for you," I said as I backed towards the Tardis. However, the Doctor was already standing behind me.

"Hello, here I am."

"Give me the engine, now!" the Cheltakka ordered.

"That's not very polite, what happened to please?" The Cheltakka just stared at him. "Oh alright then." The Doctor threw the engine to the Cheltakka. As soon as he caught it a large yellow blur fell from a roof above and tried to grab the engine. After a brief struggle the Cheltakka stood over the unmoving body of the Cleptraal.

"You didn't have to kill him!" the Doctor shouted.

"It was necessary to ensure the safety of our engine."

"Well listen to this carefully. I will give you one more chance. Take your engine and go home now. If you try to attack Earth in anyway then you will regret it," the Doctor warned. The Cheltakka stood there for a few seconds before disappearing, along with the body.

"How are we supposed to stop them now?"

"Simple, with this," the Doctor said as he produced a banana from his pocket.

"A banana! Why do you have a banana in your pocket?"

"Oh always keep a banana in your pocket. Very useful things bananas. Good source of potassium. Always take a banana to a party, especially with the French."

"So you're trying to tell me that you can save the world with a banana," I said more confused than ever.

"Easily, but I really hope he listened to my warning."

"What will happen if he didn't?"

"Let's have a look." We went back inside the Tardis and the Doctor adjusted the screen. On it was a view of what I assumed was the warship. Before I could make out any detail though, it blew up.

"What happened?"

"He didn't listen," the Doctor said sombrely.

"But how did it blow up?"

"As I said, bananas are very useful."

"Yes I know, very good source of potassium and always take them to... hang on."

"Yes?"

"You said the engine never turned off, so does that mean that it would still have water in it?"

"Yes."

"Are you trying to tell me that you somehow put the potassium from the banana into the engine and that blew it up?"

"Got it in one, of course it was a little bit more complicated than that. Because potassium is a heavy element, when it was put in the engine it made the fusion reaction unstable and the ship couldn't handle it. The excess energy couldn't be contained quickly enough so it was released all in one go. Just like putting too much air in a balloon."

"But wouldn't that have happened if they decided to leave?"

"It only happened because they turned the engine up to full power. If they had gone home they wouldn't have needed that much energy and they would have eventually found the potassium."

"Oh. Did you think they would just go home?"

"Honestly, no. But I had to give them the choice."

**A/N Just a quick final message before the epilogue. If anyone wishes to review my story all comments will be gladly received good or bad. Your comments help me to improve. Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed it. Please look out for my next one 'Run!' coming soon.**

**Epilogue: Cooling Down**

_So that was it. The end of it all. No more aliens threatening Earth, and no more elusive engine. All that was left to do was say goodbye to the Doctor._

I stood outside the Tardis and looked up. In the clear blue sky there was nothing to suggest what had just happened. Just the odd cloud starting to form. And then it started to rain. Heavily.

"That's just the water the Cheltakkas stole returning to Earth," the Doctor said, "It should sort itself out in a day. Well I say a day, more like two or three. A week tops, probably."

"I guess that means we saved the Earth then. We made a good team."

"A brilliant team." Then after a few seconds the Doctor said, "I suppose I'd better be off."

"So where exactly do you come from then?"

"Somewhere far away."

"But what's it called? How far away? What does it look like?"

"What would be the point in telling you? You wouldn't know where it is if I did," he said avoiding my questions.

"After all we've been through and you still won't tell me anything about yourself."

"Look who's talking. I've spent all this time with you and I don't even know your name."

"Well I guess that makes us even, Doctor. A little mystery for you instead," I said with just a trace of a smile, "I guess this is goodbye then."

"For you maybe but not me. I still have to go back to this morning and meet you so that you'll try to find me again. You see time isn't exactly a straight line it's more like..." I started to phase out. I never really understood any of his explanations anyway. I just looked at him and nodded in the right places. When I thought he had finished I asked a question which I didn't know if I wanted to hear the answer to.

"Will I ever see you again?" For the first time since I'd met him he didn't know what to say.

"I honestly don't know," he eventually admitted. I knew I wouldn't see him again. I watched as he stepped into his Tardis and faded away, listening to the sound that almost seemed as if it was the heartbeat of the universe, and knew he was going back into the past to meet me one last time. I remembered what he had said as I turned and walked away, 'Goodbye and thank you.' I started walking back towards my hotel in the pouring rain when I felt my phone vibrate. I fished it out of my pocket and saw that I had a message. I opened it and read the six words that I would remember for the rest of my life...

'Tell the Doctor, I AM ALIVE!'

**THE END**


End file.
